Habakkuk 3:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

Was the Lord displeased against the rivers— That is, "When thou appearedst, O Jehovah, at the Red Sea, in thy chariot of war, with thy bow drawn in thy hand, was it that thou wast displeased with the sea?"—The answer follows in the next verse, "No; Thou layedst bare thy bow, to fight for Israel, according to thy oath unto the tribes, and thy promise. It was only to fight for Israel, and conduct them safe to the land of Canaan, according to the oath which thou hadst given them." See Deuteronomy 33:26. Psal. lxxvii, 17, 18. The meaning of Riding upon thine horses, and thy chariots, must be on thy chariots drawn by horses; because in the original it is not thy horses, and thy chariots, the connective particle and being a supplement of our translators; but, upon thy horses, thy chariots; that is to say, even on thy chariots drawn by horses. The remark of Grotius here is, "Being drawn by thy horses, thy chariots brought salvation; clouds, storms, and tempests, being the chariots of God in the sacred writings." And where it is added, Habakkuk 3:15. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, the meaning must be, that God made the passage of the Red Sea so easy, that it might have been passed through by an army of horse without any interruption; in plain allusion to the chariots and horses of the Egyptians. See Chandler's Life of David, vol. 2: p. 184 and the note on Psalms 18:10. Houbigant, after several commentators, reads the second clause of the 9th verse, And thou hast satiated the arrows of thy quiver. See his note, and the Syriac translation.

Habakkuk 3:8-9

8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?

9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earthf with rivers.